1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electronic musical instruments and in particular to electronic organs and features thereof, namely one finger chording devices. The one finger chording system enables the instrument player, by depressing any one of a select group of keys on the manual of an electronic organ, to play a preselected chord corresponding to the depressed key.
While the present invention is described herein with reference to particular embodiments, it should be understood that the invention is not limited hereto. The one finger chording system of the present invention may be employed in a varity of forms, as one skilled in the art will recognize in light of the present disclosure.
2. Prior Art
One finger chording devices are well-known in the electronic organ industry as illustrated by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,359,358, 3,629,481; 3,681,508; and 3,708,604. A frequent drawback or problem with one finger chording systems in common use is the necessity of using separate keyer circuits for producing chords played in the standard manner and chords played by the one finger system. In addition to the added cost of using separate keyer circuits, the different keyer circuits provide a different tonal quality output signal. This fact renders the chords played in a conventional manner different sounding than chords played in the one finger system. Even a slight variation in the audio output is disconcerting and bothersome to the listener and instrument player.
Another approach to one finger chording systems has been to use multiple key contacts associated with the keys on the lower manual of a two manual organ adapted to operate in the one finger chording mode. The additional key contact approach to one finger chording entails additional manufacturing and assembly cost in addition to the cost of multiple key contacts.
Another difficulty with the static one finger chording systems of the prior art occurs if two or more keys are depressed. In this situation, the chords associated with each depressed key is played. These static one finger chording systems are not selective between a prior key depression and a new key depression. Many organists are taught to play the organ based upon the principle that one key should not be released until a new key is depressed. In practice, this playing technique prevents breaks in the audio output due to the lack of a natural mechanical sustain of the musical note as is found in the conventional piano mechanism. An instrument player who follows the above technique cannot effectively use the static one finger systems since the coincidental depression of two keys results in the playing of two chords.
It is therefore a general object of this invention to overcome the problems of such prior art devices.
Another object is to provide a dynamic one finger chording system which is connected in parallel to the d.c. keying lines between associated keys on the lower manual and conventional keyer circuits of an electronic organ.
Another object is to provide a dynamic one finger chording system which does not require multiple key contacts.
Another object is to provide a dynamic one finger chording system which uses the same keyer circuits to provide the one finger chords as are used in conventional playing.
Another object is to provide a dynamic one finger chording system which continuously scans the d.c. keying lines to detect the presence of a d.c. level signal and subsequently provides correspondng signals to the keyer circuit to play a selected chord.
Another object is to provide a dynamic one finger chording system which plays a single chord regardless of the number of keys depressed and always plays a new one finger chord upon the depression of new key.
Yet another object is to provide a dynamic one finger chording system with a memory to sustain the chord output after the instrument player releases the depressed key.
Other objects will be apparent from the following summary and detailed description.